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BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea - Episode Two - Spoiler OT

Dead

well not really...yet
Just beat it a little while ago and mostly loved the whole thing.

The main downer is that in the end Elizabeth does not really get a happy ending, the beginning of the dlc was all she would ever get... :(

I guess overall...it's very much a bioshock game. Flawed in some areas, but artful, emotional, compelling and a bit depressing as well. A beautiful way to tie together two of the best games of the last generation.

Thanks for the memories Irrational. You'll be missed.
 

Markitron

Is currently staging a hunger strike outside Gearbox HQ while trying to hate them to death
As a New Zealander, agreed. Americans can't tell the difference between a UK/Aus/NZ accent.

Usually they can't tell the difference between Scottish and Irish accents. I have never seen anyone confuse an Irish accent for Australian tho, that's new.
 

Cikay

Member
I've been thinking more about Elizabeth choosing to collapse herself to return to a single reality and save one/all of the Little Sisters. I think the big question I still want answered is why this particular reality? Is it really just that she put Sally in harm's way to fulfill her pact against Comstock and feels guilty? Because it still feels like a lot to give up just for that. And even if it's to rescue all the Little Sisters, that somehow doesn't feel like enough either; surely there are plenty of other ways Elizabeth could make the multiverse a better place, erase injustice in other places and times, without having to collapse herself and render herself useless for that task.

I think to answer the question "why doing all this and sacrifice herself only to save one Little Sister", you should not consider Elizabeth as a sane person. First the events of Infinite made her a murderer, and finally her obsession with revenge in BaS1 turned her into a freak (well, every character in the series is a freak anyway).

Now she's overwelmed with guilt and regrets, and the only way for her to find happiness is to "pay the debt" (for her, that's rescuing Sally), even if she has to die for that. Just like her father did. In the end I see her actions more like a personal motivation to find peace of mind than a noble cause to erase injustice.

(And she doesn't have any other reason to live anymore : she has killed the last Comstock, and she's all alone, Booker was her "only friend" and he's gone...)
 

Ricker

Member
Just beat it a little while ago and mostly loved the whole thing.

The main downer is that in the end Elizabeth does not really get a happy ending, the beginning of the dlc was all she would ever get... :(

I guess overall...it's very much a bioshock game. Flawed in some areas, but artful, emotional, compelling and a bit depressing as well. A beautiful way to tie together two of the best games of the last generation.

Thanks for the memories Irrational. You'll be missed.

Yep,pretty awesome,beautiful and sad at the same time...

I think to answer the question "why doing all this and sacrifice herself only to save one Little Sister", you should not consider Elizabeth as a sane person. First the events of Infinite made her a murderer, and finally her obsession with revenge in BaS1 turned her into a freak (well, every character in the series is a freak anyway).

Now she's overwelmed with guilt and regrets, and the only way for her to find happiness is to "pay the debt" (for her, that's rescuing Sally), even if she has to die for that. Just like her father did. In the end I see her actions more like a personal motivation to find peace of mind than a noble cause to erase injustice.

(And she doesn't have any other reason to live anymore : she has killed the last Comstock, and she's all alone, Booker was her "only friend" and he's gone...)

Yep,nicely explained,I couldn't of said it better myself lol ;)
 

kris.

Banned
i was taking screenshots like crazy while i played through and this scared the fuck out of me

D142D15A6DE5A573D7C785EC5124448421172279
 

Ricker

Member
i was taking screenshots like crazy while i played through and this scared the fuck out of me

D142D15A6DE5A573D7C785EC5124448421172279

Yeah...that one and the one where you turn around after looking into those little film machines and a fucking rabbit is there all of a sudden in a spotlight like that...
 

Fuchsdh

Member
As a New Zealander, agreed. Americans can't tell the difference between a UK/Aus/NZ accent.

No one can distinguish a New Zealand accent because no one here ever hears New Zealanders.

I'd wager most people can distinguish between your generic Irish/Scottish/English accents, but then again even in terms of regional variations the United States simply doesn't have as many distinct accents.

If we're going to complain about accents, you could argue that the New York accent the VA puts on for the Fontaine segments is pretty harsh, unless Fontaine was half-Bostonian or something :p
 

Superimposer

This is getting weirder all the time
One thing I was assuming they would answer but never did, who was this Elizabeth and why didn't she disappear with the rest of them at the end of Infinite's events?
 
One thing I was assuming they would answer but never did, who was this Elizabeth and why didn't she disappear with the rest of them at the end of Infinite's events?

Maybe she remained because that one Comstock got away (he wasn't "erased" since he was in another universe or something)?

For me, I think I'm just gonna consider Burial at Sea a... spin-off/side story or whatever and pretend Bioshock Infinite ended with Elizabeth vanishing. I much prefer that ending than what BaS game us.
 

angelic

Banned
So this Elizabeth, in my eyes, was created when the liz prime was killed, by then becoming scattered across dimensions like the Lutece twins. The 3 of them then had the ability to communicate and visit each other, Liz then decided she needed to go back. The Luteces, having been in that state for a lot longer, aided Liz in getting back. The river of the dead was metaphorical of them taking her back over to the living world, at the cost of her previous powers....which she had lost anyway, because she was now like a Lutece. They warned her that this would end all other universe instances of her, but she now had a death wish, and wanted to right her wrong before ending it all.

2nd playthrough now and noticing so many little touches. Obviously the lobotomy, the wrenches etc, but the Parisian river has 1 single empty boat on it when the scene turns dark. The ending is painted in a picture as mentioned by someone, but there are also 2x silouette pictures, 1 of Liz and 1 of the Luteces back to back. The only 2 people who were in this state of dimensional flux or whatever youd call it.

Really unhappy with the story arc of such a great character, all she had was abuse over the course of her life. Id have been a lot happier with her ending her days on the Battleship Bay pier dancing, even if it was only conjured up in her mind.
 

Dimefan3

Member
I like the idea that BaS is more of a 'what if' canon, as in what might happen to one of the many Elizabeths.

....Really...she's not dead....her master self is relaxing in Paris...with a puppy...*rocks in corner* (sob)
 

Tomodachi

Member
Maybe she remained because that one Comstock got away (he wasn't "erased" since he was in another universe or something)?

For me, I think I'm just gonna consider Burial at Sea a... spin-off/side story or whatever and pretend Bioshock Infinite ended with Elizabeth vanishing. I much prefer that ending than what BaS game us.

I loved Burial AND its ending, but I think I feel that way too. Infinite ending was perfection (my interpretation being that the final Elizabeth disappeared as well, only off-screen, that final "sound" and all), so I'm more inclined to consider BaS a good story but a little too complicated and open to interpretation, with a lot of stretching needed to make sense of every detail.
The sense of wonder throughout the DLCs is amazing though. Also, I REALLY loved Ep1 in every aspect, and if you consider that a side story on its own, not necessarily in canon, it really shines through.
Infinite had the perfect balance between mind-fuck, comprehensibility and wrapping though. The loose ends could have remained loose, they were minor details.

But then again, I'm glad we got to experience Rapture again and its full glory, the underusing of the Civil War in Bioshock 2 was unforgivable.
 

Salamando

Member
I loved Burial AND its ending, but I think I feel that way too. Infinite ending was perfection (my interpretation being that the final Elizabeth disappeared as well, only off-screen, that final "sound" and all), so I'm more inclined to consider BaS a good story but a little too complicated and open to interpretation, with a lot of stretching needed to make sense of every detail.

That's pretty much exactly where I'm at. Infinite's ending left everything wrapped up nicely. Elizabeth, Comstock, Columbia, all never even existed. Anna still exists though, in timelines where Booker backed out of the baptism, so she's free to make it to Paris one day.
 

Tomodachi

Member
That's pretty much exactly where I'm at. Infinite's ending left everything wrapped up nicely. Elizabeth, Comstock, Columbia, all never even existed. Anna still exists though, in timelines where Booker backed out of the baptism, so she's free to make it to Paris one day.

Sorry but... not really :p Booker is drowned by Elizabeth before the baptism and Anna is born after Booker rejects the baptism. So, no more Anna as well I'm afraid.
 

Salamando

Member
Sorry but... not really :p Booker is drowned by Elizabeth before the baptism and Anna is born after Booker rejects the baptism. So, no more Anna as well I'm afraid.

Infinite had the post-credits scene, which definitely indicates Anna was born. How exactly it was possible, that's an entirely different debate. Some believe that since the choice to be baptized would now create a paradox, the universe prevents that choice from occurring, so Booker always rejects it. I like to believe that player-Booker simply rejected the baptism before the final do-or-be-baptized moment occurred, which is when Liz drowned Booker.
 

Fuchsdh

Member
Infinite had the post-credits scene, which definitely indicates Anna was born. How exactly it was possible, that's an entirely different debate. Some believe that since the choice to be baptized would now create a paradox, the universe prevents that choice from occurring, so Booker always rejects it. I like to believe that player-Booker simply rejected the baptism before the final do-or-be-baptized moment occurred, which is when Liz drowned Booker.

Taken to its extreme, you're correct. There's an infinite number of universes out there and thus the only ones obliterated are the ones that ended up with Booker at that river to get baptized. The Booker who never walked into that river, who never fought at Wounded Knee, et al, all survive, so it's entirely reasonable (even necessary) Anna persists in the multiverse.
 

Tomodachi

Member
Infinite had the post-credits scene, which definitely indicates Anna was born. How exactly it was possible, that's an entirely different debate. Some believe that since the choice to be baptized would now create a paradox, the universe prevents that choice from occurring, so Booker always rejects it. I like to believe that player-Booker simply rejected the baptism before the final do-or-be-baptized moment occurred, which is when Liz drowned Booker.

I thought you included the post-credits scene in stuff you decided to ignore, like me :p
For me that scene is just a prelude to Burial at Sea, I don't see how it can have meaning after an ending where Elizabeth wipes herself, Colombia, Comstock and even the Booker that refuses the baptism out of existence.
 

Salamando

Member
I thought you included the post-credits scene in stuff you decided to ignore, like me :p
For me that scene is just a prelude to Burial at Sea, I don't see how it can have meaning after an ending where Elizabeth wipes herself, Colombia, Comstock and even the Booker that refuses the baptism out of existence.

It's possible for Anna to exist without Comstock/Elizabeth existing, stuff just gets messy quick. And then it gets messier, once you start factoring in branching and the full implications of what we know causes branches. Births, for example, proving extremely problematic (chronologically speaking, the Lutece birth is the first branch in game...by the time Booker's at the baptism, how many branches must exist then?)....and before long, I have a headache.

And then you try to fit Burial at Sea into everything...where we have two universes linked together, but one/both are rapidly branching...and Columbia could see Rapture for far longer than Rapture could see Columbia...and if Columbia's existence is now a paradox, does that also eliminate the Raptures that had Columbia influence on them, but then wait that means Jack never showed up in Rapture.....and before long, I say "to hell with things" and play Tetris.
 

MNC

Member
Trying to put things of my mind on paper before I forget

The link the DLC made with Bioshock 1 was pretty good; Elizabeth's story arc feels unsatisfactory however. Elizabeth tries make things right throughout the majority of the Bioshock universes and it's crazy how much suffering Elizabeth goes through without having done anything wrong to the world. Booker/Comstock gave her her closed off life, during BaS she's alone and depressed, remembering the times with Booker and how she's never going to get any of that back. All for doing nothing wrong in the world. In the end, she dies, having a bittersweet ending of getting personal redemption, but starting the events of Bioshock 1; events that aren't particularly positive either. All for the rescue of a particular Little Sister? We can agree this is all about personal motivation/redemption and not the actual Little Sister, right?
bioshock-infinite-elizabeth-dancing.gif


The exposition of seeing everything in the toilet swirl was kind of hitting the player over the head with it. We fucking get what happens.

Elizabeth's performance often blew me away; Troy Baker and Elizabeth's voice actress doing a fine job.

How the fuck does the general time travel theory work together with dying, then becoming a mortal?

Did we need the retcon of Daisy for BaS to work? I'm kind of forgetting already.

I fucking hated Andrew Ryan's voice was different. They probably couldn't help it, but he just wasn't the same.

The little callbacks were the best. For instance, Suchong dying in Bioshock 1 and Suchong in Bioshock Inf.
Bioshock 1
AD_gNr110-lNr03_Yi_Suchong_-_Protection_Bond_f0509.png


Bioshock Inf
dvIhTjP.png

Down to even the Audio Log on the ground.
 

DarkKyo

Member
The little callbacks were the best. For instance, Suchong dying in Bioshock 1 and Suchong in Bioshock Inf.


Down to even the Audio Log on the ground.

Hmm... But in Bioshock you never visit the department store building, so how is Suchong's body in the same position in a completely different location in Rapture? It's a cool touch but it doesn't make much sense.

Anyways...
During the DLC is there any concrete explanation as to why Elizabeth loses her powers? It's almost a paradox as to why she is even in Rapture if her body suddenly has its pinky finger back -- it makes no sense how she even got there.
 

Fuchsdh

Member
Did we need the retcon of Daisy for BaS to work? I'm kind of forgetting already.

No.

I fucking hated Andrew Ryan's voice was different. They probably couldn't help it, but he just wasn't the same.

It's the same guy--Armin Shimmerman, aka Quark from Star Trek. It's been the same guy all three games.

I was surprised that apparently Suchong and Cohen are voiced by their original VA as well--Cohen and especially Suchong sound totally different to my ears (then again Cohen wasn't doing his lilting falsetto thing in this game.)
The little callbacks were the best. For instance, Suchong dying in Bioshock 1 and Suchong in Bioshock Inf.


Down to even the Audio Log on the ground.

But WHAT ABOUT THE MICROSCOPE???

Hmm... But in Bioshock you never visit the department store building, so how is Suchong's body in the same position in a completely different location in Rapture? It's a cool touch but it doesn't make much sense.

At that point you're in Mercury Suites, not the department store. You get kicked out of Atlas' bathysphere after being moved from wherever he had you for a couple weeks.

In terms of things not quite making sense, however, the all-consuming focus on the Ace in the Hole doesn't quite work for me. The whole idea was that the kid was a failsafe, but his only real benefit, besides responding to the trigger phrase WYK, is that he can pass through the genetic lockdown Ryan puts--the lockdown that isn't in place weeks into the Civil War, as bathysphere travel is still not restricted.

And then it still takes Fontaine a year to get him on a plane? Doesn't pass the sniff test for me.
 

MazeHaze

Banned
The one thing I don't understand is which Elizabeth we're playing as in this? Elizabeth from BaS1 died at the end of that episode/the beginning of this one, but then she is alive again to see her dead body in Bas2? Is she a ghost? This bothered me the whole game as I was expecting it to be explained, but it never was really.
 

Sande

Member
What bothers me about the timeline is that in ep1 Booker was attacked by a Big Daddy for harassing Sally. But Elizabeth caused the first Daddy-Sister bond later in ep2.

The one thing I don't understand is which Elizabeth we're playing as in this? Elizabeth from BaS1 died at the end of that episode/the beginning of this one, but then she is alive again to see her dead body in Bas2? Is she a ghost? This bothered me the whole game as I was expecting it to be explained, but it never was really.
All the Elizabeth's collapsed into one normal person with amnesia. That's explained near the beginning.
 

Paganmoon

Member
I fucking hated Andrew Ryan's voice was different. They probably couldn't help it, but he just wasn't the same.

Felt the same way, annoyed me to no end.

It's the same guy--Armin Shimmerman, aka Quark from Star Trek. It's been the same guy all three games.

Well that may well be, but it still doesn't change the fact that he sounded different. I understand though that it's hard to mimic a voice/speechpattern you did so many years ago perfectly.

But, I did not know it was the guy who played Quark, mind blown...

All in all I liked it though, wouldn't have minded a longer game with Elizabeth. I actually liked the stealth parts.
 

Northeastmonk

Gold Member
I was completely thrown back to how the Ace in the hole was the reason to why Jack showed up in the first place. I would of liked to have seen more of the other universes that were shown at the end of Infinite's main campaign, but Rapture was the end of Elizabeth's journey.

BioShock is a sequel now. I guess it sums everything up. I cannot see a game living up to Irrational's BioShock series, unless Levine has something up his sleeve with his new development team.

The scene in France was great. I kept trying to press a button to grab a piece of bread or hug something. It felt great. Plus, a lot of the set pieces looked fantastic. Great detail on the lighting effects too.
 

Sande

Member
What are you guys on? Ryan was fine most of the time. The only time he bothered me was that one audio diary. The voice and image were so off that I didn't recognize him when I first heard it.
 

Dantis

Member
Just finished this. Really, really enjoyed it.

I feel like Burial At Sea makes Elizabeth an actual character. In Infinite, I can't say that I cared for her whatsoever, but here I really did. Which makes it even more tragic when it kills her off.
 

Dead

well not really...yet
What are you guys on? Ryan was fine most of the time. The only time he bothered me was that one audio diary. The voice and image were so off that I didn't recognize him when I first heard it.
I just replayed Bioshock a few months ago, and he sounded the exact same here to me
 

Fuchsdh

Member
I just replayed Bioshock a few months ago, and he sounded the exact same here to me

You only hear him through some very modulated broadcast effects, which might be what they are reacting to. I still dunno why Suchong sounds so different to me—need to go back and check but I think they just straight used his audio diary for the final scene where he dies so the last two audio diaries are paste jobs from the original game.
 

Van Owen

Banned
Finally got around to ep 2.

Hated that Infinite exists to directly set in motion the events of Bioshock 1. Though it was a lot cooler when the original game was just one possible outcome with constants and variables.

And lol at Elizabeth causing the deaths of tons of people (and babies) by facilitating rapture's destruction so she could save the little sisters.
 

Dimefan3

Member
Finished my 2nd run through today. Still hate the ending. I really feel like they treated Elizabeth very poorly, for the sake of not letting the characters be tampered with.

Although I like a theory floating around that Elizabeth was revived using the nearby Vita Chamber, through the use of her hair sample. Maybe she had planned that, and that was why she was willing to go back to rapture.

I hope 2K do something with this series, it would be a shame for it to end. Although maybe Ken Levine might decide to come back to it in the future, just not under the irrational brand...
 

Holykael1

Banned
It seems like a lot of people are bothered by the fact that they created the story they wanted to make and not the story said people wanted.
Even if I don't like the direction that a certain storyline took, I will never go as far as saying that it should have been different. This is somebody's creator endeavor, you are free to like, dislike, scrutinize and criticize it but saying it should have been different is going too far imo. This is their story not mine.

With that said, I enjoyed this, there are some obvious leaps of faith they had to make for the story to work but it's something I am willing to overlook given the grand scheme of things.
Elizabeth's storyline made perfect sense and it was extremely fitting of a character with her powers, a few posts ago somebody made the analysis of her character under the light of the events that transpired in BaS 1 and 2 and I fully support that analysis.

I don't feel like this ruined anything, in fact it raised my appreciation of Infinite.

This is the analysis I was referring to btw:
I think to answer the question "why doing all this and sacrifice herself only to save one Little Sister", you should not consider Elizabeth as a sane person. First the events of Infinite made her a murderer, and finally her obsession with revenge in BaS1 turned her into a freak (well, every character in the series is a freak anyway).

Now she's overwelmed with guilt and regrets, and the only way for her to find happiness is to "pay the debt" (for her, that's rescuing Sally), even if she has to die for that. Just like her father did. In the end I see her actions more like a personal motivation to find peace of mind than a noble cause to erase injustice.

(And she doesn't have any other reason to live anymore : she has killed the last Comstock, and she's all alone, Booker was her "only friend" and he's gone...)

Elizabeth went through some serious shit(to the point that we can't even begin to fathom the gravity of the events that took place and the effect that they have on a person's psyche), It's only natural that she came out a wee bit warped.

To me Bioshock was always about the message, the plot, the schemes not about the characters or emotional attachment to said characters(even if there were some effective moments like songbird/liz and lil sis/big daddy dynamics).
 

DanielJr82

Member
I just finished it. It was really good! Still thinking about the ending and how it all came full circle. Definitely a DLC for the fans, just like Lair of the Shadow and Citadel were for the Mass Effect series (fanservice and exposition). It's both an epilogue to Bioshock Infinite and a prologue to Bioshock 1.

I got the itch to play some more Bioshock. Maybe I'll give Bioshock 2 a chance. It's been in my backlog for years and I've never played it, lol. Did they make any references to it, by the way? (For those of you who have played B2.)

** Major spoiler territory **
I wish they had gone a little bit more on Jack (Bioshock 1's protagonist) and how he came to be about, or maybe I missed it entirely. It was explained in the original game, IIRC, but it's been a while. I definitely saw the picture of him as a baby and his recording when Suchong told him to kill the puppy. (Also really cool seing Suchong's death audio recording play out as a scene, lol. It was great!) =P

Also loved the stealth approach. It was a nice change of pace. =)

I am really going to miss Irrational Games and the Bioshock series. =(
 
I'm trying to think how this ties into the novel.

The novel is basically all about a guy that works for Frank Fontaine...

Even if it's not canon, it doesn't seem to conflict with anything.
 

Fuchsdh

Member
I'm trying to think how this ties into the novel.

The novel is basically all about a guy that works for Frank Fontaine...

Even if it's not canon, it doesn't seem to conflict with anything.

It conflicts with all the novel material that ties into Bioshock 2, as well as certain timeframes and events such as Atlas being imprisoned in the department store.
 

Joeku

Member
As far as Jack (and my probably-faulty memory) goes, he was the illegitimate child of Andrew Ryan and a prominent prostitute, planted with false memories by Suchong and Tannenbaum(?), bioengineered to age super rapidly (I think he may chronologically be like 11 or something circa Bioshock 1) and have that mind-control key phrase, then sent up to the surface to age some. Some time later, Atlas gets him on a plane with that little note.

And good lord, that Suchong scene made me feel such catharsis and brought me right back to where I was seven goddamn years ago.
 

Salamando

Member
As far as Jack (and my probably-faulty memory) goes, he was the illegitimate child of Andrew Ryan and a prominent prostitute, planted with false memories by Suchong and Tannenbaum(?), bioengineered to age super rapidly (I think he may chronologically be like 11 or something circa Bioshock 1) and have that mind-control key phrase, then sent up to the surface to age some. Some time later, Atlas gets him on a plane with that little note.

And good lord, that Suchong scene made me feel such catharsis and brought me right back to where I was seven goddamn years ago.

Close enough. He had the body of a 19-yr old by age one, he was only four or so, and there were two phrases he had implanted...one to control him, and one to cause his heart to shut down.

The most important reason for his existence was Rapture's security measures. Being in the same genetic ballpark as Ryan allowed him to use the Bathyspheres and Vita Chambers, and meant the Turrets and Cameras would take longer to ID him as hostile.
 
Just finished it, but there are two things I'm confused about.

Who's Sally? What makes her so significant to Elizabeth?

Why was Elizabeths lock of hair so important? What made it such an important power source?
 

Salamando

Member
Who's Sally? What makes her so significant to Elizabeth?

Why was Elizabeths lock of hair so important? What made it such an important power source?

Sally is Rapture-Booker's adopted daughter. He lost her while gambling, and she was kidnapped and turned into a little sister. During Burial at Sea 1, she was the macguffin that Elizabeth used to get Booker to realize his original sin. Why she was important - Elizabeth felt guilty about practically cooking her alive to kill Booker-Comstock. Or maybe felt sympathy for her, as she was another girl who had her life ruined by Comstock. Only her life could be salvaged.

As for the hair...Fink and Suchong were trying to get "protectors" to imprint on little girls. Suchong saw Fink had success, and he thought the key was in the girl's DNA. So you acquire her DNA. Suchong's unaware that you and the girl who was protected by Songbird are the same person.
 
the one thing I was hoping they explained was never touched upon. Near the beginning of Bioshock 1 you encounter a ghost of a woman (could be Jack's mother if I recall). At no other point in any of the Bioshocks do you encounter a ghost save Lady Comstock, which I still haven't heard an explanation for. I was hoping that the 2 would some how be linked. I also thought that the Songbird was the old Janitor and that he wasn't imprinted on Elizabeth, but the tower itself as he was originally its care taker of sorts. And that he saw Elizabeth as a piece that completed the tower & made it whole..thus his desire to keep her there. Oh well...least the DLC was fun to play.
 
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